It is often desirable to provide wall and door mounted structures for protecting the door and wall from general wear and tear often experienced by high traffic areas. For instance, such structures are commonly used in schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings where there is a large amount of pedestrian traffic such that the walls and doors experience a relatively high amount of wear and tear as compared to less trafficked areas. Further, large equipment is typically moved in and out of hallways and doors of these locations, which may cause the doors and walls to experience additional wear and tear. For example, in hospitals, patient beds, gurneys, wheel chairs, mobile imaging equipment, and the like are often moved from one place to another and in doing so often unintentionally impact the walls and doors in the areas which they travel past. Accordingly, these locations often employ protection structures such as wall and door guards to protect against this wear and tear.
Wall and door guards used in such applications are typically constructed from vinyl or other plastic materials. The production of such materials is often associated with the production of a relatively large amount of pollutants. Moreover, such processes typically utilize a number of chemicals and other hazardous materials that may be harmful to the environment. For instance, known materials typically include halogens, sulfur, nitrogen, lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, or other known materials that may have an adverse impact on the environment.
Thus, a material for constructing wall and door guards that is capable of protecting walls and doors from wear and tear but which is more environmentally friendly is desired.